I'm not planning to go early, but I'm ready to go when it
comes and I'm looking forward to Beulah land.
The Bible uses that term Beulah Land for heaven.
It's not just a made-up word Bible.
Bible gives that word place where the Lord is and I'm
looking forward to forward to that day.
He can come back today that's that's that's already I am to go
and I hope you are too. I'm looking forward to him
coming and however he takes me I'm ready to go.
But Philippians chapter one, I mentioned a little bit of a
little bit earlier in the service that you know, we we
really, we undervalue prayer. Prayer is such a powerful tool
that we have at our disposal and we're not we're not using it
just as a tool. Prayer is a way that we
communicate with God. Prayer is the way that we we get
a hold of God and we have that fellowship with God and and of
course God tells us that we should be coming to him with
things that we need and to bring our requests unto him.
And the Bible is filled with versus on prayer.
But prayer is the way that we have that fellowship with God.
And if we're looking at it as it's, you know, this is the
magic lamp, this is the genie that I can rub to get a hold of
the things that I need. Then we're looking at prayer in
completely the wrong way. God is not some genie in the sky
that's waiting to to drop things out of heaven for us.
He is a real, powerful, omnipotent, omniscient God who
wants to have a relationship with us.
That's an amazing, amazing thing.
But we have that relationship with him, of course, through the
word of God. But we have that relationship
with him in prayer. And Charles Spurgeon, Many of
you have at least heard his name.
One of the called the Prince of Preachers.
One of the one of the probably one of the greatest preachers
that that that in in modern times anyway.
But he said this. A man scarcely needs to be
reminded that he must breathe. It is essential to his very life
that he should breathe, and it is essential to our spiritual
life that we should pray. I never thought it necessary to
prepare a discourse to exhort you to eat.
Neither ought it to be necessary to exhort Christians to pray.
It should be to you an instinct of your new nature, as natural
to your spiritual being as a good appetite is to a man in
health. There should be a holy hunger
and thirst to pray. And the soul never pray so well
as when it is reminded not by the hour of the day or night,
but by its real needs. And when it resorts to its
places of private prayer, not because it thinks it all, but
because it feels that it must and shall and will go there, and
is delighted at the privilege of having communion with its God.
What a powerful statement. We can wrap it up right there
and say you've got everything you need to know about prayer
right there. That's what prayer is all about.
But in Philippians chapter one, the purpose of prayer is to
better learn how to pray, to deepen our sense of prayer.
Honestly, it's in the day and age that we live in especially.
It's time that we move from these simplistic prayers, Some
surface prayers. You know, you go into a kids
class and a kids Sunday school class and you ask him for prayer
requests and it's my friend fell and scraped his knee, pray for
his knee, you know. There's a lot simplistic not,
Not that God doesn't want to hear those, especially from a
young person. But the more we mature in our
faith, and the more we grow in Jesus Christ, the more our
prayers have to move from those simplistic surface prayers to
praying more of what God wants us to pray, to pray according to
the will of God. Philippians, may I remind you,
was written from a prison cell. Paul was in prison at Philippine
Satan may have been able to keep Paul from doing things that Paul
did, starting churches, encouraging the churches,
training young men, preaching in the synagogues because he was
bound there in prison. But he could not keep Paul from
praying. And in First Philippians chapter
one, the first chapter there, verse #9, he says this and
really this whole thing. And in in the first part of
chapter one is just Paul giving them an introduction, talking to
them, a salutation, if you will. But he says in verse number six,
being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun
a good work in you, will perform it into the day of Jesus Christ.
And he goes on about a couple other things.
But then he says this in verse #9.
And this I pray that your love may abound yet more and more in
knowledge and in all judgment, That you may approve things that
are excellent, that you may be sincere and without offense till
the day of Christ being filled with the fruits of
righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ under the glory and
praise of God, that is, not giving them advice, he says.
I'm praying for these things for you.
If you pay attention to the punctuation in those verses.
Verse 9, verse 10, and verse 11 are all a continuation of what
Paul says, that he is praying for those Philippians.
For and Paul locked up here in prison, bombarding the throne of
grace, day and night, was far more dangerous to Satan than a
Paul who was free and cumbered about with the daily care of
the. Charles Burgeon again said it's
the burning lava of the soul that has a furnace within a very
volcano of grief and sorrow. It is the burning lava of prayer
that finds its way to God. No prayer ever reaches God's
heart, which does not come from our hearts.
And this morning I want to break this passage down to see how
Paul was praying for the Philippian Church.
And if Paul was praying that for the Philippian Church, then
that's the same thing that we ought to be praying for
ourselves, not selfish to pray for ourselves.
When it comes to having our relationship with Christ
strengthened, we need that we must come to him to ask him for
that strength. We must come to him to ask him
for that help. And certainly I'm not saying
that it's wrong to ask God to meet your daily needs in the
Lord's prayers. He very plainly says give us
this day Our Daily Bread. He's asking for his needs.
Jesus in the model prayer. Ask for his daily needs.
Nothing wrong with that. There's nothing wrong with
asking for those things. But we need to get to the point
where we are praying the deep prayers that God wants us to
pray according to the will of God.
And Paul says, this is what I'm praying for you.
And I think this is a great model for what we ought to be
praying for ourselves as well. So I want to talk about that
this morning for a little bit. Praying for me.
I want you to think about that.
I'm not saying that you should be praying for me, although it's
helpful that you pray for your pastor.
But I'm saying, how should I be praying for me?
How should you be praying for you?
I want to break this passage down and look at 8 different
things. And I know that sounds like a
lot. Most of these points are pretty
short this morning. But I think it's so important
that we look at these things and get an understanding from Paul's
perspective to this Philippian Church of how we ought to be
praying for ourselves in this manner.
Let's pray, Father, we love you. Can we thank you so much for
your goodness. Thank you for an opportunity.
We have to look into your word and God, I thank you that it's
so plain and so clear to us. And I pray that as we go through
these things this morning and look at the the prayer that the
Apostle Paul prayed for them, that we'd look inside of
ourselves and make sure that we're praying the same thing for
ourselves, That we would have the relationship with you that
you want to have with us. I would thank you for all that
you do. In Jesus name, Amen.
First thing I want you to see from this passage and maybe grab
a bookmark or put a ribbon in there because we're going to
jump around to a couple of different places, but we're
going to come back to here because I want to.
I just want to take every single one of these phrases that Paul
talks about because I think it's a great, it's a great model.
The first thing is that I should pray that my love would grow.
Paul says that in verse #9 and this I pray that your love may
abound. Yet more and more love is the
most remarkable thing in the universe, and the greatest fact
is that God is love. The Bible makes that very plain.
And 1st John chapter 4 God is Love.
You see it on bumper stickers, you see it all over the place.
But that that phrase is very plainly given to us in the word
of God. And 1st John chapter 4 Let us
love one another. For love is of God and everyone
that loveth is born of God and knoweth God.
He that loveth not knoweth not God.
For God is love. That's the greatest fact.
No greater words have ever been written outside of the pages of
scripture in the words that were penned by Anna Warner.
Jesus loves me. This I know, for the Bible tells
me so. The greatest passage ever
written on love, I believe, is in First Corinthians chapter 13.
Anytime I do a wedding, I use First Corinthians chapter 13,
The Greatest, The greatest passage on love.
Such a beautiful description of love.
The world's libraries contain volume after volume, fact and
fiction, warm biographies telling of love.
Love will drive people to do extraordinary things.
It'll drive them to extraordinary lengths.
It'll it'll make them do things that nothing else can think.
Think for example about a missionary that goes to a
foreign field and and gives his life on on that foreign field,
serving many times amongst deadly contagious diseases.
Missionary that I know that's in Africa right now, just sent word
back a couple a couple weeks ago that he's contracted malaria,
that's a dangerous, dangerous disease.
He's there because he loves those people and he wants them
to know that Jesus Christ died in the cross for them, wants
them to know that they can be saved.
Love will drive people to do those things.
Think about even the things you may have done when you're
falling in love with your husband or your wife, the crazy
things that you did to try to win their affection.
Love. Love is a powerful thing.
But Paul prayed that they would love without limits, that their
love would abound. More and more turn over to Luke
chapter 10. See, Love is the support that
everything else hangs on. And we have a we have a warped
view of love a lot of times because of the way that
Hollywood portrays love. And that's one of the reasons
why I I can't stand Hollywood. I hate Hollywood with a passion.
I don't watch their movies. I don't pay attention to what's
going on in Hollywood. I couldn't tell you who the main
actors are right now at all because their their idea of love
is so warped. Their idea of reality is so
warped but love as the Bible gives it to us in Luke chapter
10 of verse 27, he answering said.
Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all
thy soul, and with all thy strength and with all thy mind
and thy neighbor as thyself. The stronger that love gets, the
more you can hang there. It's just like a support that
you would hang a picture or a shelf or something like that on
if it's a weak. Little nail and you put it on
there, it's going to fall. But the bigger nail you use, the
stronger support you use, the more you can hang on it and the
more your love grows and abounds.
More and more, the more you can hang on that.
The stronger it gets, the more the Lord can work through us.
There's a whole world full of lost and dying people who don't
know Jesus Christ as their Savior.
And if you don't love more and more, and if your love is not
abounding more and more than, you're not going to be affected
by watching them as they go about their daily business just
one after another, walking past you.
Knowing that the majority of them don't know that Jesus
Christ died in the cross to save them from their sins or they
haven't accepted it. And most of those people that we
passed every single day are on their way to hell without Christ
for all of eternity. Love that abounds more and more
will help you to see those people in their lost condition
and have a love for them enough to go out and tell them about
Jesus Christ. Think about the people that you
work with. Oh, we have a great time.
We get along so well, we laugh. I love my job.
Do you love the people that you work with?
If you have not told them how they can be saved, then don't
claim that you love them. Because at the end of this life,
if they don't know Jesus Christ as they're savior, they're going
to stand before him and he's going to say depart from me, ye
curse into everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his
angels. And you're going to have to
watch as they turn around and look at you and say, Why didn't
you ever tell me You claim that you loved me?
You claim to be a Christian. You claim that you loved your
Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, but you never told me how I
could know. For sure that I could go to
heaven when I die. Love that abounds more and more
will tell your friends, will tell your neighbors, Will tell
your coworkers, Will tell your acquaintances, will tell your
relatives and other brothers in Christ who need to be loved with
the love of Christ. I should pray that my love would
grow, but back in Philippians chapter one, he says.
And this I pray that your love may abound more and more.
But he also continues that phrase.
He says in knowledge and in all judgment.
I should pray that I would know and discern what to love.
Love does not operate without law.
Love knows its limits and knows where to draw the line.
We can love all men, but we don't love all they do, right?
The the the wickedness that we see in the world today and and
how it just goes so completely against God and so completely
against the things that God commands us in His word.
It goes so completely against all of those things.
I can love men without loving the things that they do that I
should love. Those people love should not be
gullible though. Paul makes that very clear by
using very specific words. Here in verse #9 he uses the
word epignosis translated it as knowledge.
It means precise knowledge, knowledge that's created by
further experience, the result of learning or perceiving.
And then he uses the word as thesis, which is translated
judgment. It also means perception.
It basically means discernment. What he's saying is that your
love would abound more and more, but with discernment, learn to
love the things that God loves. Learn to hate the things that
God hates. We ought to love more and more,
but our love cannot just be love, Everybody and everything.
We should love everybody, but we don't have to love everything.
A parent who loves his child and knowledge and in all judgment is
not going to give him everything he wants.
He's not going to withhold discipline when it's necessary.
Love sometimes is a hard thing, right?
And not loving the things that the world is doing is that
discernment that he's talking about, having that love that
abounds more and more. But in bounding, in knowledge,
and in judgment, we need to pray that we would learn to love the
things that we're supposed to love.
Turn over to 1st John chapter two.
First John chapter two. First.
John is filled with talking about love.
Loving the right things, not hating the right things if you
will. But he says this in in first
John chapter 2 and verse #15. Love not the world.
He's not talking about the people in it, he's talking about
the things that the world does. He's made it very, very clear
that we should love. He loves everybody, right?
God, so love the world. So he's not being contradictory
here. When he says love not the world,
what's he talking about? He's saying the things that the
world does, the things that make up the world, the things that
those who don't know Jesus Christ do.
He's saying love not the world, neither the things that are in
the world. If any man love the world, the
love of the Father is not in him.
That's a strong statement if you actually sit there and think
about it for a second, If any man love the world, the love of
the father is not in him. I mentioned Hollywood.
That's the world you talk. You think about the music
industry, that's the world. You think about all the all the
wickedness that goes on outside of these doors.
That's the world. And if you become attached to
it, you become to the point that you can't get rid of some of
those things. Listen, if God tells you better,
get rid of those movies that you're watching.
And I can't get rid of them because I just, I I I'm such a
fan of theater. I'm such a fan of Hollywood.
I'm such a fan of movies. I I'm a soccer for a good story.
Then you love the world and the Bible says the love of the
father is not in you. I can't get rid of that music.
I just, I love that music too much.
It's just it's it's who I am. It's a part of me.
That goes against the word of God, and most of it does, and
you can't get rid of it. Then you love the world and the
Bible says the love of the Father is not in you.
That's a strong statement, but it's the word of God.
God's love never violates His Holiness, and in first John he
tells them love, not the world. He had to say that because
people have a tendency to love without thought, without
yielding that decision to the Bible.
We need to pray that we would choose carefully what to love.
And I can promise you that if you go to God in prayer and you
ask him, and you beg him, should I love this?
Should I not love this? He'll make it very clear.
Now here's the thing, people. Well, I don't know.
That's a Gray area. No, most of it's not.
Most of it's right here. You just haven't read it.
It's not a Gray area. He says, love this, don't love
that. There's there's no middle
ground. You love the Lord.
You got with all your heart, with all your soul, with all
your mind, with all your strength.
There's not going to be a lot of room left for you to love the
things in the world. All means all.
And if you love the Lord with all your heart, strength, mind
will body everything, there's not a lot of room left.
There won't be a whole lot of. Place for those things to fit
in. Nobody ever loved us as God
loves us. Calvary is a witness to that.
But God's love never violates His Holiness, it never operates
in conflict with His omniscient wisdom, and it never ignores His
own righteous laws. The fact that God is love and
longs for all men to be saved and to spend eternity within
heaven with him in heaven does not mean that there is no hell.
The Bible is very clear that those who don't accept Jesus
Christ as their savior are going to spend an eternity in hell.
And the fact that hell exists does not mean that God stops
loving those who are there. Sin breaks God's law, and it
also breaks God's heart. God's not up in heaven rubbing
his hands together, hoping that people don't accept them so we
can send them to hell. Now he's begging us that all men
everywhere would repent. That's what he's that's what he
says in the word of God. For God so loved the world, that
whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have
everlasting life for God. For God said not his Son into
the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him
might be saved. No, He loves the world.
He loves those who are in the world, but his His righteousness
cannot violate His Holiness. We need to pray that we would
learn how to be good at making that choice between the two.
To become good at exercising that discernment, we need to
love the things that God loves, and we need to hate the things
that God hates. He says this back in Philippians
chapter one. I should pray that my love would
grow. I should pray that I would know
and discern what to love. But #3 I should pray that I
would. Learn how to love, he says.
And that your love may abound. So if it's supposed to grow, it
would help if we knew how to do it right.
God wants us to grasp the principles that we find in First
John chapter four of God's love flowing through us.
That's how we love #4, Paul says.
I should pray that I would approve things that are not just
good. But excellent.
You think that's hard, but I was just talking about get rid of
all those other things. Those are good things, but is
that? Excellent, he says.
He says in verse #9 and this I pray that your love may have
bound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment,
that you may approve things that are excellent.
There were lots of people that I could have dated in college.
I didn't. I didn't actually meet my wife
until I was out of college. It was hard graduating from
college and not knowing who you're going to marry, right?
Because a lot of people typically tend to find their
spouse, especially if you're in a Bible college, you typically
tend to find your spouse in college.
Doesn't doesn't always happen that way, and it certainly
didn't happen that way for me. But I'm not.
I'm not saying that all the girls were no good.
There were plenty of good girls that were there.
But I got a wife who was excellent because I was not
willing to settle for just good, and I'm thankful for that.
God brought my wife along because he knew exactly who I
was going to need. And this is exactly what God
expects us to do in our daily lives.
Are there good things out there? Sure.
But sometimes those good things get in the way of the best
things. The word translated approve.
He says that I'm that you may approve things that are.
Excellent. It literally means to a say or
to examine or to test. It's used in reference to
testing metals for purity. Paul's ideas that we should
carefully examine things and approve them only if they pass
that test, or to examine things that that differ and see if they
pass the test. Matters of doctrine are among
things that differ. When you hear something that,
wow, that's new. I've never heard that before.
Tested against the word of God. Make sure it passes that test.
Make sure it stands up to the purity test, if you will.
Paul was aware of the false doctrines that were circulating
in Philippi that were circulating in colossi, and he
exposed those errors in the letters that he wrote to the
churches. But today's cultists have their
Christs, if you will, but they're to be distinguished from
our Lord Jesus Christ. Were to examine and.
Prove things that differ. We should we should discriminate
not just between the good and the bad, the right and the
wrong, the true and the false, but also between the good and
the best. Good is good, but if you're good
could be better, then you're falling short of where you
should be at. And if you're better, could be
best, and you're falling short of where you could be at, you're
good. Is is is a good first step, but
you're good should be excellent. He's saying that you should
approve those things that are excellent, and honestly, many
times the good can be the enemy of the best.
You you, you get to a point in your life where you you feel
like you're making some good steps and you feel like you're
making good progress and you're you're making decisions for
Christ and you're getting rid of some of the things that you know
are holding your back. And you're adding some of the
things that you know are helping you move forward.
And you start to get to the point where you say, you know
what, look where I was and look where I am now.
This is pretty good, but is it excellent?
Are there more things that God is trying to work on your heart
about that you just won't let go?
Are there more things that God is working on your heart about
that you just won't add in? I just.
I can't do that. It requires too much time.
That requires too much effort. That's too difficult.
I'll get to the good. I'm not willing to go to the
best. No.
He says that I may approve things that are excellent.
It's good to read the Bible, but it can become the enemy.
If God wants us to study it and learn it, and rightly divide
that word of truth, it's good to to pray at dinner.
But when God wants us to go deeper with him and have that
prayer time and and get in the closet with him, find time where
we get on our knees and just talk to him and have that
fellowship with him and develop a relationship with him, then
having that prayer at dinner can be an enemy of the best.
It's good you ought to pray at dinner, but if that's the only
prayer that you're doing, you're missing out on God's best in
your prayer life. There's a lot of things that are
good, But God doesn't just want us to approve the good, He wants
us to approve and do. The things that are excellent.
Are you doing things that are excellent?
You ought to pray that God would help you to approve things that
are not just good but excellent. #5 He says this back in
Philippians chapter one that you may approve things that are
excellent. Verse 10 that you may.
Be sincere. I should pray that I would be
sincere. And genuine and not a fake.
The hypocrisy of Christians is the single biggest excuse that
people in the world use for why they will not become a
Christian. Now it's a bad excuse, but they
have a point. A lot of Christians are
hypocrites. They pretend to be one thing.
They they see those Christians that go to church.
They talk about God. Do they?
They pretend to be a Christian at certain times, and then they
act completely opposite at other times.
And by the way, that's That's not just when people are
watching you. Who you are when nobody's
watching is who you really are. Who you are when everybody is
watching is who you want people to think you are.
Who you are in the dark. Who you are in your private
time. Who you are when you are alone.
Is the real you. God sees that.
And you know what? Just about everybody else does,
too. The world sees and they've
learned to despise that. They know how Christians are
supposed to act. They expect us to act like
Christians. When Christians go out into the
world and don't act like Christians, they see the
hypocrisy. Now, they may be doing the exact
same thing that that Christian is doing, but they know that
that Christian is not supposed to be doing that.
And they just a bunch of hypocrites.
That's the reason why I don't become a Christian.
I was riding with an officer and you know that I'm a chaplain for
the police. I ride along with them quite a
bit. And I was talking.
He was. I was talking with him and.
About how much he couldn't stand organized religion.
And honestly, I can't stand organized religion either.
Religion is is, is a hindrance to people coming to know Jesus
Christ is their savior. It's not about religion, it's
about a relationship with Jesus Christ.
But he was talking about all churches and everything else and
he said that he was so turned off by the other officers in the
department who claimed to be Christians who preached about
other people not doing what they should.
And and one in particular who was the loudest one that he was
talking about and and and had a baby out of wedlock.
He was not known for being diligent on the job a lot of
other things. And he said I'm I'm so tired of
it. I'm so tired of the organized
religion all these guys in the department that that claimed to
be Christians and honestly most of them are worse than everybody
else who doesn't even claim to be a Christian.
This offered officer mentioned that things like that are.
Keeps him away from church and religion.
It's the hypocrisy. If you're going to claim to be a
little Christ, which is what Christian means, then be a
little Christ. Jesus Christ is not going to
involve himself in those things. Christian, when that, when that
term was was was first given to the Christians, it was meant to
be a derogatory term. Oh, a bunch of little Christ
running around. But what what better thing could
you say about somebody than that?
You're a little Christ, right? But but are you worthy of that
term? Christian?
You claim to be a Christian, but are you?
You know Jesus Christ is your savior, then you're one of his.
But are you a little Christ? Are you a a miniature
representation of him on this earth?
That's what we ought to be. We have to pray that we would be
sincere. Honestly, parents, hypocrisy is
one of the single biggest reasons why young people leave
the church when they grow up. When I say the church, I'm not
talking about this organized religion and everything else.
We want our kids to grow up and have a relationship with Jesus
Christ, regardless of where they're where they end up in
church or not or or or what church they end up in.
I should say, if you have a relationship with Jesus Christ,
you're going to be in church because you want to be where he
is. That.
But they see how their parents act at church on Sunday, and
then they see how they're a totally different person on
Monday and Tuesday and Wednesday and Thursday and Friday and
Saturday. They see how they talk around
those who expect them to talk. The right way and then how they
act when they're around people who don't really care.
We have to pray that we would not be sneaky, that we would not
put up a front, that we would not be two faced Paul.
I mean, James talks about that and James Sheppard, one of her
say a double minded man is unstable in all his ways.
What's a double minded man? It's a hypocrite.
It's somebody who pretends to be one thing when he's around
people who expect him to be this way, and when he's something
completely different when he's around people who who don't care
or who don't expect anything out of him.
I don't know the note. One of the reasons churches are
not effective for God is because the pastors are hypocrites.
There's so many pastors out there that I I see things on
Facebook or or or, you know, reading an article or different
things about that. The things that these pastors
are doing, why would anybody want to follow what they're
preaching? They pretend to be one thing in
front of the people, but then they live a completely different
life outside the pulpit. I'm not claiming to be perfect
by any stretch, but I can tell you if I'm asking you to jump a
foot, I'm doing my best to jump 3.
Because I have to be what you need me to be in order for me to
lead you spiritually. And if you're in a church where
you cannot get 100% behind the pastor because, well, I don't
know if I really agree with what he does with that stuff, then
get out of the church and get in a place where you can get behind
what the pastor's doing and get behind where the pastor's going
and where you can be led because he's following the word of God.
Paul says, Follow me as I follow Christ.
That's my that. That's a huge responsibility on
my shoulders. But I have to do it.
If I'm not doing it, how can I expect you to do it?
But if I'm doing it, then I expect you to do it too.
I'm not asking you to do something I'm not trying to do
myself. You can come look at my DVD
collection. It take you about 10 seconds to
get through it. I don't have, I don't have a
house full of movies. I don't have a house full of TV
programs and all that stuff. I don't have books that I'd be
ashamed for you to look at. I don't have music that I don't
want you to hear, but that's how we have to be if we're going to
be a Christian in this world and if we're going to be an example
to the people that were around. If you have to constantly be
sneaking around so your kids don't hear the things that
you're doing, they don't see the things that you're watching.
If you have to sneak around to do those things, then that's
your first clue that you're probably a hypocrite.
And I know that's not what people like to hear today.
But he says that you may be sincere.
He's saying pray and ask God to help you be 100% what Christ
wants you to be 100% of the time.
That's what it means to be sincere.
As a Christian, I should pray that I would be sincere.
Number six, he says. That you may be sincere and
without offense. I should pray that I would not
be an offense to others. People take offense more easily
than they ever have before. I don't want to live paranoid,
but I don't want to offend somebody unless I have to.
And by by have to, I mean if the word of God offends somebody,
still be it. If I'm preaching the Bible and
that offends you, I don't want to offend you.
But it's the word of God that's offending you, not me.
And if that's offensive to you, then so be it.
I have to pray that my words, though, and my actions would not
be an offense to others. So many people are turned off
toward following Christ because they were offended by somebody
who claimed to be a Christian. And we have to speak the truth.
We have to speak the truth in love.
We have to give it to him the way that it is.
But God help me, if I say something or do something that
would cause someone to turn away from the gospel, I have to pray
that I would grow. In thoughtfulness and maturity,
in fact turn over to 1st Corinthians chapter 10, First
Corinthians chapter 10. And Paul obviously wrote the
book of First Corinthians and he had a lot of things that needed
to be corrected there in that church.
And and boy you want to you want to hear somebody who who gave it
to him like it is read. Read Paul's letters, Paul.
And he said that many times. I'm not trying to be an offense
to you, but this is the way it is.
And if you're not doing it, then it's going to be an offense to
you, right? If I mean think about it.
If if you, you know if if you're sitting there drinking Kool-aid
and I'm preaching about drinking Kool-aid, you're going to be
offended if if you're doing it right, if you're sitting there.
Drinking water. You can be like, yeah, everybody
drinking kool-aid. You're not going to be offended
by it, right? But but that's, that's, that's
what he's talking about. If you're doing the things that
the Bible teaches and preaches against, then you're going to be
offended. On the other hand, if you're
doing those things that that that the Bible, if you're not
doing those things that the Bible teaches and preaches.
Against You're not going to be offended.
It's not the way I said it. It's the way the Bible said it,
right? Paul says this in First
Corinthians chapter 10 and verse 32.
Give none offense neither to the Jews, nor to the Gentiles, nor
to the Church of God, even as I. Please all men in all things not
seeking mine own prophet, but the prophet of many that they
may be saved. What was Paul saying there?
He was saying I need to give him the truth, but I can make the
truth go down a little bit easier by the way that I give
him the truth, right? By the way that I I I handle
myself by the way that I treat other people.
I'm not trying to be an offense to somebody.
And I need to pray, as Paul says here, that I would not be an
offense to other people. I want them to get saved.
I want them to want Christ, if I'm an offense to them because
I'm just the way that I am and that's just what you're going to
put up with. If that's you, this is just me.
And if you want me, then you got to take everything that comes
with me. No, learn how to not be an
offense to other people. I'm trying to win people to
Christ. I'm trying to help them grow in
their relationship to Christ. And if I'm an offense to people,
I'm a. Hindrance to that, so I need to
pray that I wouldn't be an offense to others #7 back in
Philippians chapter one, he says in verse #11, being filled with
the fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ.
I should pray that I'll be filled with the fruits of
righteousness. Today people ask, is it popular?
Doesn't make me feel good. Is it the easiest way out?
Are what? What are what we should be
asking Is, is it right? Is it right?
Not Is it popular? So many Christians, so many
churches are doing the popular thing today.
But is it right? Does it please God?
Is it a fruit of righteousness? A Christian who is filled with
the fruits of righteousness is good and does good.
We get scared of that term being good because we think it, you
know, we we associate it with Catholic or Lutheran or or
Methodist or whatever else where you have to be good in order to
be saved. No, the Bible says Jesus went
about doing good. As Christians, we ought to be
good, and if we're filled with righteousness, the fruits of
righteousness, we will be good and we will do good.
A genuine Christian is going to bear fruit.
You're going to see souls saved. You're going to show the fruit
of the Spirit in your life. You're going to.
See the consequences of doing right.
We should pray to live in such a way that these, these wonderful
blessings would would absolutely fill our lives and overflow from
us to others. And then let me give you this as
the last thing that Paul says we ought to be praying for.
I should pray that my love would grow.
I should pray that I would know and discern what to love.
That I would learn how to love. That I would approve things that
are not just good but excellent. That I would be sincere and
genuine. That I would not be an offense
to others. Lastly, he said I should pray
that all of this would make God look good, and I don't mean that
in a in a way to to bring him down.
But he says this at the very end.
There all of those things unto the glory and praise of God.
The goodness that's the hallmark of the true Christian is that
everything we do should not be to lift us up.
It should not be for the sake of.
Well, look what I do in my life. It shouldn't be for the sake of,
well, our church. Should be the sake for the sake
of bringing glory and honor to Jesus Christ.
Almost every Sunday morning I pray that that everything we do
would lift up the name of Jesus Christ, that it would bring
glory to him, That he would be pleased by what we're doing in
the service. Because everything that we do
ought to be doing that, or we're doing it for the wrong reason.
If we're doing it because we're trying to lift ourselves up, or
if we're doing it because we're trying to make ourselves feel
better, or whatever else, we're doing it for the wrong reason
and God is not pleased by that. God's not glorified by that, and
it all counts for nothing if he's not glorified.
Christian doesn't do good works to.
Earn salvation. It's not to earn merits with
God. It's not to earn the applause of
the approval of men. And not just.
It's not just to follow our conscience.
Our motivation ought to be for the praise and the glory and the
honor of God. Everything we do should be done
with the mindset that we. He's the King of Kings.
He's the Lord of Lords. We serve a wonderful, great God,
and everything that we do ought to be to lift him up.
That was the testimony of Jesus. God's name is glorified when
Christians do things that reflect his character.
His name is defamed when those who profess to be saved do
things that are unethical and moral and considerate.
Want to glorify God? And if you would ask yourself
that question before you do anything, does this glorify God?
It would change the way you live?
Does this glorify God? And if you have to say, well, I
don't know if this would really glorify God, hey, could Jesus
Christ sit there with you while you're doing it?
That'll tell you if it brings glory to him or not.
If he couldn't sit there with you while you're doing it, or
walk there with you when you're going there, or do that activity
with you while you're doing it, then it's probably not bringing
glory to God. And if we would focus everything
through that mindset, it would change everything about the way
we live. Does it bring glory to God?
Everything we should do should be done with that mindset.
We want to glorify him. I want him.
I want him to be reflected in my life.
See, that's all we are. We're just reflectors, right?
The glory of God to me, to others, right.
They don't see me. I I'm just the mirror.
Right. When you look into a mirror and
and and you, you, if you were to take, let's say I had Alex
standing right up here, all right?
And he was standing this way facing this mirror.
And I had this mirror pointed that way.
Are you going to see me? Are you going to see Alex in
that mirror? You would see him.
And that's exactly the way that that God expects to work through
our lives. It's not me.
It's him through me. And if it's anything but that,
then I'm not bringing glory to him.
I'm bringing glory to me. If it's all about me being
lifted up, then we're missing the point and I should.
Pray that everything I do would bring glory unto God.
You can sit here and listen to this, nod your head and forget,
or you can start praying this prayer for yourself.
I quoted Charles Spurgeon at the beginning and I'll quote him
again, he said. If you're sure it's a right
thing for what you're asking, plead now.
Plead at noon. Plead at night.
Plead on with cries and tears. Spread out your case.
Order your arguments. Back up your pleas with reasons.
Urge the precious blood of Jesus.
Set the wounds of Christ before the Father's eyes.
Bring out the atoning sacrifice point to Calvary and.
List the crowned Prince, the priest who stands at the right
hand of God and resolve, and your very soul, that if souls be
not saved, if your family be not blessed, if your own zeal be not
revived, you will die with the plea on your lips and with the
importunate wish on your spirits.
I should pray, as the Apostle Paul prayed for them.
That my love would grow. That I would know and discern
what to love. That I would learn how to love.
That I would approve things that are not just good but excellent.
That I would be sincere and genuine.
That I would not be an offense to others, And that everything I
do above everything else would bring praise and glory and honor
to God Only then. Only then will we see God's
blessing on our lives. I don't think there's anybody in
here that don't that would say they don't want to see God's
blessing. All of us want to see God's
blessing in our lives. But it takes work.
It takes it takes dedication. It takes it takes that prayer.
It takes the prayer that the Apostle Paul prayed for those
Philippians praying that for myself, God, I want to be what
you want me to be. God, I want you to do what you
want me to do. God, I want to bring glory to
you through my life. And when we get to that point
where we're willing to pray those prayers, they're hard
prayers to pray. But when we're willing to pray
those prayers, God will answer. And you'll see God move in your
life in a mighty way. You'll see God do things through
your life that you never thought he'd be able to do.
You'll see God accomplish things through you that you've never
thought you would be able to accomplish.
Not because I just, I've been wanting to accomplish that
always. But I'm trying to bring glory to
God. And you know what God's looking
for? God's looking for a vessel that
he can fill that will be a reflection of him.
Are you willing to pray that this morning?
That's what he wants to do. That's what he wants us to do.
And what a great I hope you'll go back and read this, read this
prayer of the Apostle Paul this week and be reminded.
I need to pray for these things for myself if I want to be what
God wants me to be. And I've got to do it.
I've got to be serious about doing it.
I've got to get into that deep relationship with Christ through
prayer that he wants to have with me.
Let's pray. Father, we love you.
Give me. Thank you so much for your
goodness to us. Thank you for an opportunity we
have to open your word. And God, I pray that these that
this message would be received in the in the the heart and the
intention that it was given. God, I believe it's a message
that you laid in my heart. But it's that we find this
directly in the word of God. And I don't want to be an
offense to anyone but God. Where the Word of God pricks our
hearts and where the Word of God points things out that we need
to change. God.
I pray that we'd be willing to do it.
I pray that we wouldn't push back against the things that you
want us to do. You promise that you'll bless us
if we'd live for you if we do these things, if we follow after
righteousness. So God, I praise you, give us
that greater burden to do that. Well, thank you for what you do
this morning. In Jesus name.
Amen. If you.